Been a while since I was last in this fandom, but with my return I offer you an idea that I am sure can be enjoyed by many.
Born in my mind and raised on Spacebattles, please enjoy
…
If you asked any person or child in the Empire who were the most important people, the uneducated would likely offer three names.
Emperor Charles Zi Britannia, the 98th Emperor of Britannia.
Odysseus Eu Britannia, the Crown Prince and First Born.
And Schneizel El Britannia, the Prime Minister and Second Prince.
It was a logical enough assumption for the under-educated to make, but in truth it was quite the opposite of that. An untruth.
He was no match his father or his younger brother. The person who'd replace him in the titular three would be something he'd have to debate to himself on: perhaps Cornelia, perhaps Sir Bismark, perhaps someone else.
It was not to say that he didn't have his role. He performed many important domestic affairs well enough Schneizel had no reason to get involved with himself, particularly domestically.
He hadn't the nerve for rapid, unexpected events, but put him in front of a plan or something expected and orderly and he'd perform the task better than most of his siblings.
With the slight caveat that the category of siblings who were good at managing domestic affairs was dwarfed by the amount of siblings good at leading military forces, and those who were good at causing trouble of course.
Of the part about planned events, he liked to think the current one was going well enough.
It was a table of the three important men as defined by the common commoner, and so far the tension that often existed between his father and his younger brother was absent.
They chewed the pastries that lay between them on an ornate plate without complaint, which was quite a relief given how they were different than they had been at previous meetings.
"Who made these again? It wasn't Euphie."
The Emperor questioned after he finished off a tart.
"It was one of the daughters of your guardsman Jerald. The head cook's younger sister did the cookies. They of course were not aware of whom these were to be eaten by, a security measure. There is of course no reason not to trust them, but they aren't Euphie."
The Emperor nodded in agreement to the answer given, and reached for a cookie.
It had been something he had started a year or so ago. As Crown Prince the stability of the realm was of great concern to him, and there was no greater threat to it than the tension between the current Emperor and the one said to be most likely to succeed him.
Not even Zero could claim yet, though he was quite sure the terrorist would love to eventually be that threatening.
As such he had taken to hosting the two of them for a private bit of snacking and discussion of important matters. It was quite an informal affair, and also quite secretive.
There was no reason to make it so obvious where the important cogs of the Britannian machine were, and in the past only one other person had ever been aware or invited to these events: The Third Princess Euphemia Li Britannia.
That had been in part because of her unique ability to be loved by anyone, and in the earlier meetings he had relied on that to keep tensions from boiling over. That no longer seemed necessary, though he did miss her company.
"I hear that we've been having set backs in Africa."
Charles spoke up, and once upon a time he'd have expected the worst.
"We've been forced to fall back in Egypt. In truth it was partially an issue of supply lines more than anything Europe did. With Area 18 in our control Egypt is vulnerable to a two-front assault, and even under present circumstances they are forced to defend from both east and west even when they really only need to from the west."
The present circumstances Schneizel mentioned meaning Cornelia being in Area 11 and not on the front lines attacking Egypt via the Sinai.
It was a necessity: beyond the prestige damage from Clovis being defeated and murdered as he was by Zero, Area 11 was utterly crucial to be kept in control. If Sakuradite flow was cut off, their war machine would utterly grind down to a halt.
They could still fight, but they'd be lucky to only have to abandon half of their African gains for a defensible perimeter without the pink mineral.
That wasn't even getting into conquests such as Area 18.
"Fortunately the recent gains in Egypt are the only negative in the last week or so. Between Cornelia and Zero refrain distribution has been gutted in Area 11 and we'll soon be seeing the full defeat of the Japanese Liberation Front. With both eliminated the area's productivity should increase notably."
The Emperor nodded at his assessment, while Schneizel had a remark of his own.
"How remarkable that one of our enemies has assisted us so. It's a pity that more terrorists aren't like that. if it were, the true potential of Area 8 would have been reached years ago without Pyrrhus."
He could only wince, but not because of his brother. Not directly at least.
Pyrrhus Hi Britannia was the 5th Prince of Britannia: a 21 year old who had been Viceroy of Area 8, once the Empire of Brazil, for 5 years. In that time the area's productivity had skyrocketed while the resistance elements that plagued the entire continent Area 8 was on were rendered less frequent and severe. The stability of Area 8 had allowed for greater ease of their African conquests via the narrowest crossing point across the Atlantic.
The nobility hated Pyrrhus, and he was the most complained about member of the royal family as a result.
"A man can do whatever he wishes so long as he is successful. When you fail, one finds that the consequences were always there for him, just waiting for his failure."
The emperor's little nugget of wisdom was what allowed Pyrrhus to undergo much of his ideals despite the nobility's complaints.
The nobility complained about a lot of things. He had even gotten statements from them angered that Cornelia did not seem on track for cleaning up all resistance in Area 11 within two months, or even two weeks in one case.
Such a small timeline was simply ludicrous.
They did not complain about Pyrrhus's schedule as they did his governing philosophy.
Pyrrhus's was the concept of 'All Men were Not Created Equal': Same as the Empire's and many of his siblings.
Cornelia the chief general of the armies followed it, as did another royal general in Igraine Mo Britannia the 4th Princess.
In the navy 4th Prince Reginald Mer Britannia followed it as well, and they were hardly alone.
Each and every one had their own view on the phrase, and could explain it in their own way.
Pyrrhus has his own way of seeing it, and it was one the nobles greatly disliked.
To many nobles, and non nobles for that matter, it was the reason to look down on those conquered. The words 'All Men' referring to groups of people.
To Pyrrhus 'All Men' were individuals, not groups. What mattered to him was talent, not birth.
In Pyrrhus's ideal world a Britannian would be someone with notable talent regardless of birth. In his world the talented Eleven pilot of the 7th generation frame from Camelot would be Britannian, while a noble's son without accomplishment would be a Number.
Naturally the nobles found the idea quite unseemly, and his assignment to the Viceroy status of Area 8 was greeted by the Nobles as getting rid of him.
They were quite upset that he had thrived there, even as the nobles put less into Area 8 in response.
The fact that just meant that Pyrrhus could do even more in Area 8 without their interference and thus become stronger in his position and thus harder for them to deal with later...did not seem to register to the nobles in question.
"Words to live by I suppose. Be successful and the consequences of your actions leave you at bay. Yet they are never truly gone."
He winced at Schneizel's words. Was he trying to goad the Emperor with that!?
"Consequences that don't seem like they did anything are still there, and they still hurt. They just don't debilitate you. You can only overcome them."
The Emperor's words were unusually wistful for him, and he wondered what had sparked them.
The wives who had died, or the children who had died. He'd guess the latter himself.
The Emperor liked some of his children, he wasn't sure he liked any of his wives. He was under no illusion that the union that made either he or Schneizel was that of love, or that the Emperor himself loved either of them.
Once it had seemed he had loved Marianne vi Britannia, but now he knew it wasn't true.
There were people in the cold heart of the Emperor, but not a wife or one of the two so called great men of the Empire.
There was Bismark, whom the Emperor had told to skip the meal and take some medicine for a bit of a illness he had caught, and Euphemia. Who knew how many others.
"Speaking of which, I haven't the time to have congratulated Marrybell for being reinstated to the royal family. Do send her my well wishes, and my blessing and support for that initiative she's interested in."
He nodded at Schneizel's request.
Marrybell's anti-terrorism task force idea, if it worked out, would be a great boon for Imperial security. It could even be used to replace Cornelia if they needed her out of Area 11 immediately.
Say, if the line in Africa completely collapsed and they needed Cornelia's elite troops to stabilize things.
He hoped it never came to that. Such a problem would a utter disaster for the empire.
The only worse thing than a catastrophic military reversal would be a succession crisis, and no one wanted that. He was fully prepared to abdicate to avoid one, and even that was unlikely.
The Emperor might have gained a few pounds in recent years, but he was perfectly healthy and far too protected to be killed.
THUD
The thud was soft and singular, but it rang out like a barrage of gunfire. His and Schneizel's attention shot to the Emperor, who had collapsed face first onto the table. His wig had went askew, and he wasn't breathing.
His eyes darted to his brother's eyes: purple like many in the family but unlike his own.
The eyes, from which shone his brother's fearsome intellect, the ruthlessness that made him the true heir to the Empire, were alight with panic and shock.
This was not Schneizel's doing. This was not something he allowed to happen.
It had caught him just as much off guard as it had him.
Suddenly the eyes rolled back, and Schneizel joined his father face first on the table, unmoving and dead.
THUD
The seconds that rolled on next were like hours to him, and he was distantly aware that whatever was happening was going to take him next. A even more distant thought was that of hope, and between the two raced hundreds of other thoughts, all competing to be said and thought in depth.
What was going on?
Poisoning?
Was it oral or by some sort of dart?
Who could have known?
Should he shout?
Should he duck?
What sort of poison was being used?
Run?
Hide?
Say something profound and historic?
Of all thoughts that were clashing in his head, it was the last one that seemed to stay, a desire to say something that would befit the horror that had just been unleashed, and what worse horrors would follow it regardless of his own fate.
"Oh no."
Alas, he was not his father or his brother. Oh no would be his last words, and it was not a statement worthy of Shakespeare.
Though it would, he knew, perfectly sum up what would follow this.
THUD
...
ROYAL FAMILY STATUS
Charles Zi Britannia: THE EMPEROR IS DEAD! LONG LIVE...someone
Odysseus Eu Britannia: Dead, dying in a manner that did not get anyone the pot (most betted on a murder by Schneizel, a few by Guinevere, one long shot by Carine...)
Schneizel El Britannia: Dead, mourned by many. Kanon in particular.
Guinevere de Britannia: Quite possibly ruler by default at the moment. Not a good thing.
Cornelia Li Britannia: Planning Narita attack, unaware that the blood is about to start gushing that doesn't belong to the JLF.
Euphemia Li Britannia: Wondering why Zero seemed familiar...
Reginald Mer Britannia: Above water
Igraine Mo Britannia: Purely innocent
Pyrrhus Hi Britannia: More prepared than most for the coming storm.
Carine Ne Britannia: May have trouble in the near future
Castor and Pollux Rui Britannia: They exist.
Laila la Britannia: More bad news for the poor girl
Marrybell Mel Britannia: Will be busy in the next few days
...
NON ROYAL STATUS
V.V: About to have the worse day of his life when someone tells him what happened
Bismark Waldstein: Author forgot to kill him, get's to live longer than planned
Anya Alstreim: About to cry at the news
Zero: Someone stole his kills, will not be happy.
Lloyd Asplund: Senses a disturbance, as if millions of dollars of funding suddenly vanished
Yeahh, I'm going to ignore the wiki's list and give my own interpretations of areas. Just for the record for things before Japan...
The Homeland is a combination of the United States and Canada for the most part, along with any colonies and territories in the Western Hemisphere that Britain would have had by the point Napoleon won. The Bahamas, Jamaica, Guyana, and Belieze for example. I'll just call it Area 1.
Area 2 is the rest of the Caribbean: places like Cuba and Haiti.
Area 3 is Mexico and Central America.
Area 4 is Alaska, the Canadian Territories, and Greenland.
Area 5 is Iceland.
Area 6 is Northern South America (Venezuela, Columbia, Ecuador, etc)
Area 7 is Andean South America (Peru, Chile, Bolivia, Argentina, and Falkland)
Area 8 is Brazil and Uruguay
Area 9 is one half of the Pacific, such as Hawaii
Area 10 is the other half, which includes New Zealand
Igraine Mo Britannia was offered up by spacebattles user PKD.
Now my own interpretation of the royal lineage is that the number in succession you are in drops if you are out of the family for a while. Nunnally and Marrybell are 87th and 88th because they were exiled for a while, and came back in at the back (and presumably after a few deaths like Clovis). So while I don't think Marrybell canonically is back in the family until R1 is over (I don't claim expertise on side materials), I'm fudging that here.
Also I'm going to leave this because I find sometimes people can struggle with 'P.O.V versus Fact'. Odysseus is not 100% right about certain things. This Charles has the same view on Marianne as Canon Charles. Odysseus just thinks the same thing Canon Lelouch did however.
He's probably right about Charles's lack of love for him or the second prince though.
Anyway next chapter the Royals and other important figures learn that things have gone very, very wrong (or very, very right). The absolute worst is probably not going to happen, though said chapter would only be chapter 2….